Take a Step
by Sagashiteru
Summary: Glimpses into Kousei and Kaori's life after a successful surgery saves her from death, expressed through a series of oneshots. Fluff. Lots of fluff.
1. Monday

**立って歩け！前へ進め！**

 **Stand up and walk. Move forward.**

 ** _-Edward Elric_**

* * *

Morning after~

 _Three weeks after the surgery_

The sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, crisp and warm, and to even to his shut eyes it seemed beautiful. He could hear the birds singing outside, and in his mind he could almost see the bright colors of the world, hear the sound of running water over river rocks. He opened his eyes, blinking against the intensity of the light bathing his bedroom.

The world seemed wonderful, beautiful – beautiful because she lay beside him, naked and sleeping, her head on his chest, her golden hair splayed out around her, her hand in his, their fingers laced together. He could not help the smile that crept up on his face. How long had it been since he had woken up… happy?

She was so much brighter even than the sunlight he could not bear to look at because his eyes hurt, but somehow he could not close his eyes or look away from her. He did not know how long he stared at her – time seemed to lose all meaning when he was with her, as long as he got to spend all of it with her – but eventually her eyes fluttered open, and even the way she woke up was beautiful. He felt his heart skip a beat.

She smiled slightly as she raised her head to look at him, one eye closed. Drawing forward, she pressed their lips together for a fleeting second, waking him from his trance, before pulling back and looking into his eyes. "Ohayou, Kousei," she said softly, smiling, and his heart fluttered. She sat up, the sheets falling away from around her, exposing her white chest, decorated by two small pink buds. She rubbed the eye that was still closed, and yawned daintily. He took a breath. She even managed to make yawning look graceful and beautiful. Beautiful, like she was beautiful.

He smiled also, and sat up after her, putting his arms around her and, after kissing her collarbone, resting his forehead against him with a contended sigh. " _I want to hear you say that to me every morning for the rest of my life_ ," he whispered.

"Mhm," she hummed, and he felt his heart skip a beat again.

* * *

 **Sorry for the offensively short chapter. Let me explain what's going on. I'm doing this thing called the Weekday Prompt Challenge - a challenge-ish thing created by kono ore. Of course it's made by me. I don't have any friends and I'm not part of any communities where I can find actual challenges, so I made one myself. For every day this week (hopefully), I am going to post one chapter to this fic based on a prompt that begins with the first letter of each day of the week. Today was Monday, and the prompt was _morning after_. Hopefully you enjoyed. Follow for updates. Looking forward to your continued readership. Yoroshiku ne~ ;)**


	2. Tuesday

**お前がこれからどうなろうと、俺はお前をずっと愛している～**

 **Whatever you do from now on, I will always love you~**

 _ **-Uchiha Itachi**_

* * *

Test~

 _Five months after the surgery_

He took a breath, acutely aware of the cool air in the classroom. His glasses slipped down the bridge of his nose. Taking a shaking hand, he pushed them up. By no means should it be this chilly, but he sweated under his shirt as the seconds ticked by, each _tick tock_ carving the black characters on the sheets of paper before him deeper and deeper into his eyes until he was entranced in a way he could not look away. He clenched his fist for a second, taking a breath, but it did nothing to relieve the tension building inside his muscles.

"Arima…?"

He shot up, his vision adjusting. The man at the front of the classroom swam into view.

"Arima? Dou shita n' da?"

 _What's the matter_?

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Iie," he said quickly. "Nandemo nai desu, sensei… Sumimasen."

 _It's nothing, sir. Sorry._

The teacher shook his head, and Kousei felt himself almost draw a little bit deeper into a shell. Some of the more curious students around him had torn their gazes away from their tests and were eying him silently. He scratched the back of his head. From the seat to his right, Kaori looked at him in worry, one glance showing him that the sheet before her was full of text from her pencil.

She caught him looking at her test, and her eyebrows rose half an inch in understanding. He shrugged helplessly.

He did not know the answer to a single question in the test.

Kaori paused for a moment, before taking two discreet peeks around her. She had transferred to their class as soon as she returned to school in order to be closer to him, and now they sat as close as possible.

The rest of the class had resumed writing, their pencils scratching away at their papers in a sound that slightly panicked Kousei today, because it meant they all knew what they were doing. The months following Kaori's successful surgery had been like a dream. How could he focus on studying when he was too busy thanking whatever deity was out there that he would not lose the person most dear to him? The teacher was writing something on his own desk, his phone beside him, oblivious to their silent exchange. He looked back at Kaori. She lifted her test up slightly and gestured toward him.

His heart speeding up, he took another look around them, but no one had noticed what they were doing. Taking a breath, he looked back to her. " _Ii no_?" he mouthed.

 _Are you sure_?

She made to nod, before hesitating. Lifting her pencil, she quickly scribbled something on the top of her test, and passed it to him.

Feeling as if his heart would stop at any moment, he reached out and pulled the sheets to him as quickly and silently as he could. For a second he waited, as if waiting for the teacher's wrath to depend upon them right that instant, but nothing so dramatic happened. Their entire exchange had gone unnoticed.

He breathed a sigh of relief. " _Arigatou_ ," he mouthed, looking up at her again.

 _Thanks_.

She smiled, her beautiful face lighting up at being able to help him out, and his heart melted. " _Aishiteru_ ," she mouthed back.

 _I love you_.

His face heating up, he lifted his pencil, and, feeling slightly flustered but _oh_ _so impossibly happy_ , made to copy her test. As he brought the pencil down to write, however, he hesitated. He noticed her elegant script at the top of the page. Of course. She'd written something to him before giving him her test. In the heart-pounding nervousness and excitement of taking the test from her, he'd forgotten, but now he saw it. Taking another look around the room, he pulled the sheets closer to read what she had written.

 _School is supposed to prepare you for adult life, right? If that's the case, it makes no sense for us not to be on the same side. We'll be together when we're adults, so it makes perfect sense to cooperate here as well._

He paused, and despite himself looked back up at her. She smiled happily at him, and for a moment he found himself marveling the fact that this goddess was right here, right beside him, and that she loved him. He took a breath, the appreciation leaving him slightly shaken. It seemed like a dream, almost, that she would want to be with him forever. Once more he looked up at her, meeting her smile with one of his this time, trying to convey with that single expression all the love he had for her, love that he could not fit into any amount of words.

By the way her eyes seemed to light up even more, she understood the message.

* * *

 **Sometimes, when I have some dialog I feel will lose its meaning or nuance in English, I write it in Japanese. However, I provide the translation (not word-for-word literal, but rather what conveys the closest meaning). I just want to clarify that I'm not using Japanese just because. For example, saying something like "Suki" or "Aishiteiru" have** ** _completely_** **–** ** _completely_** **– different meanings than each other. In English both would be translated as "I love you", but in Japanese the** ** _amount_** **of love** **–** **or how much love a person is feeling at the moment they say one or the other** **–** **is on totally different levels. Some people say "suki" is** ** _like_** **, but I would not agree. Personally, I feel like those people don't understand that aspect of Japanese culture. Just something I wanted to mention.**


	3. Wednesday

**さみしかったんだよなぁ… 苦しかったんだよなぁ…**

 **It was lonely, wasn't it...? It _hurt_ , didn't it...!**

 **- _Umino Iruka_**

* * *

Wedding dress~

 _Four years after surgery_

"I don't understand why we need to shop around for so long if we're not going to buy one off-the-rack anyway…"

Tsubaki tutted disapprovingly. "We need to know everything before we commission the dress!" she said sternly. "Of course we're not going to buy one off-the-rack, but you need to try on as many as you can so we can make an informed decision when the time comes!"

Kaori folded her arms in front of her chest, suppressing the sigh that threatened to escape. It didn't stem from weariness, however. She _liked_ shopping. The reason she was complaining was because of how damn _nervous_ she was. Logically, it made no sense. Kousei loved her, she knew. More than anything. And he would not stop loving her no matter what happened.

But she could still not keep herself from worrying. _What if she messed up during the ceremony_? The wedding was in three months, and it was going to be the single most important day of her life. More important than the time she won one of the most important violin competitions in the world in Italy, more important even than the day she practically came back to life after her love's voice beckoned to her. _What would she do if she messed up_?! She could not stop herself from imagining herself tripping as she walked down the aisle with her father. She would ruin the day for Kousei as well!

Their wedding would be at a church, as opposed to a traditional Japanese ceremony at a shrine, since her family was not Shinto or Buddhist. A traditional Japanese wedding was generally a quiet affair, with only a few choice people in attendance. Even just because of nerves alone, a wedding at a shrine would probably have been a better choice.

A Western wedding was anything but private! She and Kousei were famous all over the world. No doubt there would be dozens – hundreds! – of guests in attendance. The world viewed her as calm and completely in control, and on stage she supposed she was usually composed. But she knew (and Kousei did as well), she was anything but "calm". One look at the way she destroyed centuries-long musical tradition with her chaotic violin was enough to see that! Ohh, what would she do?

"Um… Are you sure we can't have a shrine wedding?" Kaori said.

"What!" said Tsubaki, rounding on her.

Kaori sank like a tortoise in its shell. "Nothing…" she mumbled.

"You are way too nervous, Miss Miyazono!" Tsubaki said. "Look at you! You're quieter than the surface of a pond these days! You're supposed to be happy!"

"I don't think I can ever match your fiery temperament…" said Kaori weakly. "And I am happy… I'm just worried I'll mess up."

She _was_ happy. Oh, she was happy, happier than she had ever been in her entire life. Arima Kousei, the man she had been in love with since they were both so young they could not even begin to comprehend what it meant _to_ love someone, the man who was the reason for her existence, for whom she would sacrifice anything and everything without a moment's consideration and never even look away from long enough to regret any of it, would be tied to her in an ancient, eternal contract. Of course she was happy! In fact, the joy she had been feeling every day since the moment he proposed to her amid those cherry blossoms was so _powerful_ she felt like maybe she had died that day during the surgery and gone straight to heaven. She had no idea how to express so much happiness. But that didn't mean she wasn't nervous!

Tsubaki sighed. Leaving the dress she had been analyzing, she walked over to her friend.

"Listen. Kaori-chan, you're on stage all over the world in front of thousands of people all the time. When have you ever messed up before?"

"I'm not worried about the people attending… Kousei will be there. I don't want to ruin it for him."

"Oh, come _on_! You really think Kousei will not like anything you do? You have him wrapped around your little finger. I don't know why I was ever in love with him, he's so completely _yours_. You have _nothing_ to worry about. You could kill a kitten and he wouldn't love you any less. In fact he'd probably be enamored by how beautiful you looked doing it."

Kaori laughed softly. "Yes, he probably would. My dear Kousei."

"That's all he talks about – if you can get him to stop staring into space fantasizing about you for five seconds – how wonderful and perfect you are. Oh, who am I kidding! He's all _you_ talk and think about too! You two are a complete lovey-dovey pair of starry-eyes fools. Don't worry. I cannot imagine what it would take to ruin the day you two will officially belong to each other."

Kaori smiled, the knot in her chest relaxing slightly. "Thank you, Tsubaki."

Tsubaki stuck her tongue out at her. "Come on now, I don't like this dress." She turned away from the dress she had been inspecting – an intricate thing of so many patterns etched into the white that Kaori could not even comprehend it. "I think there was one closer to the door I saw earlier. Let's go try that one on."

Kaori nodded, and Tsubaki dashed off in almost more excitement than Kaori herself felt. The musician shook her head fondly. Sweet, sweet Tsubaki, whom she adored so much, her closest friend after Kousei. She made to follow her, but hesitated, spotting a piece of a couple days' old newspaper on a coffee table that had some chairs around it, looking like it was made to accommodate someone who was accompanying someone shopping here – it seemed like the store knew their customers well, and how _long_ they took to buy anything. Near the top of the newspaper it said _Japanese Violinist Miyazono Kaori Announces Engagement_. She took a breath, the nervousness threatening to take over again, and hurried after Tsubaki.

* * *

 **How obvious was it that I'm a guy who knows nothing about how girls shop? Very? Okay…** **Well, due to being Japanese-Canadian at least I know how the actual wedding ceremony works both in traditional Western culture and traditional Japanese culture. That's** ** _got_** **to count for something.**

 **As for the guest reviewer who I can't reply to, thank you! (I hope you're serious and not sarcastic, because that would be cruel. ;_;)**

 **Well, I'll see you guys on Thursday. ^_^**


	4. Thursday

**その感情に名前はないけど、あえて愛と呼ぶことにしました。**

 **I don't really have a name for that emotion, but I've decided to call it love.**

 **-** ** _Katsuki Yuuri_**

* * *

Trip~

 _The very next summer after the surgery_

"They have all the preparations in order," said Kaori. She kissed him once again before snuggling into his chest.

"Well," Kousei said. "I hope you have a good trip."

"What?"

Kousei blinked.

Kaori shot up and raised her head to glare at him from where she sat on his lap. They were in his house, where she'd been living since the surgery. Her parents had allowed her to stay with him for a while, pleasantly surprising him with their compliance after he and Kaori explained that they wanted to be together, and no, they _couldn't_ wait until they were adults, and begged them to listen. Her father had regarded him with a more threatening expression than he could have thought the kindly man capable of, and he'd found himself shrinking under the older man's gaze. Doubtless, the impression the baker was going for had been made brilliantly. Kousei was _not_ going to hurt his little girl or break her heart. The prodigious pianist had smiled weakly. Of course he would never do anything to harm her. He'd die for her if she asked.

"You're coming with us," she said.

"To Tohoku?"

"Yes, genius."

He scratched his head awkwardly. "No, I – I couldn't…"

"Yes, you _can_. And you _will_."

He looked away – he could not match the intensity of her gaze. "I wouldn't want to spoil your family vacation…"

"Now you listen here!" she said, and he looked back at her, finding in surprise genuine anger in her eyes. " _Family_ vacation? What _family_ do I have without you? You're more my family than anyone else! Or do you not feel the same way about me? _Watashi meiwaku shika nai no_?"

 _Am I just a burden to you?_

His eyes widened. "Meiwaku janai yo!" he said hastily. "I love you! More than life itself! You know I do!"

 _N – No, you're not a burden!_

"I was going to _die_! I am lucky to be alive! I had an incurable disease – I _have_ an incurable disease! Doctors say it's a miracle I got better! I _realize_ how much of a _gift_ this life is! I realize how _lucky_ I am! I want to spend _time_ with the people I care about! I love my parents, and I want to spend time with them, but I love you more! I want to be with you as well! Would you take that away from me?"

Kousei opened his mouth to say something – anything – to reassure her that was not the case, but he froze, for in her eyes he found angry tears.

He closed his mouth, his eyes softening, and raised a hand to wipe away her tears. Then he wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her into his chest.

"Gomen, ne. Boku mo kimi no soba ni itai yo. Zutto. Tada… Meiwaku kaketakunakatta dake… Nakasete gomen."

 _I'm sorry. I want to be with you as well. Forever. It's just… I didn't want to impose or cause trouble. I'm sorry I made you cry._

"Meiwaku janai yo…" she mumbled, nuzzling into him, her voice muffled.

 _It's not trouble._

"Gomen…" he said. "Boku mo issho ni itai… Zutto. Zutto…"

 _Sorry… I want to be with you too. Forever. Forever…_

"I'm sorry too," she said. "I overreacted."

He shook his head. "No~, don't worry about it. Of course I'll go with you. How could you ever be a _burden_ to me? You're the reason I exist. I want to be with you every waking and sleeping moment."

Kaori was silent for a moment. "You know," she said finally. "You're really sweet."

Kousei blushed.

"Sorry…"

She shook her head. "No~. I love you for it," she said reassuringly, taking his hand and kissing his fingers softly.

He stroked her hair, and she hesitated.

"What is it?" he said.

"It's… My parents want me to come back home after the trip…"

"No!" Kousei said, sitting up. "I don't want to be separated from you!"

Kaori nodded quietly. "I know," she said, lowering her hands, which still held his between them. "I don't want to be separated from you either. I asked them, so many times, but… They're not listening."

Kousei sat back, feeling his shoulders slump. "What are we going to do? I – I understand this level of emotional dependence isn't healthy, but I honestly don't care. I just want to be with you."

"I know," she said. "I came up with an idea."

"You did?" he asked, voice slightly hushed, trying to keep himself from getting his hopes up again.

"Yeah… I'll ask them to let you live with us for a while. I'm sure they'll be much more inclined to let us be together as long as we want if they can watch over us."

"Live with you…" He hesitated. "It _does_ sound wonderful not to have to part from you, but I don't know…"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Meiwaku kaketakunai…"

 _I wouldn't want to burden you_ …

She smacked the back of his head. " _Meiwaku janaitte_!"

 _I said you're not a burden_!

"Iya, sore wa boku deshita ga…" he said, sticking his tongue out at her.

 _No, I said that_.

She smacked him again. "Shut up, wiseass. We're doing it. Plan is this: you come with me and stay with us as long as you can, then we come back to your house. Even if we're not technically _living_ together yet, we'll just sleep over at each other's houses."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sleepovers every night?"

"Yes," she said, nodding. "And we go to the same school anyway, so that shouldn't be a problem."

He settled back into the armchair, and held her closer, somehow feeling incredible better than he did a minute ago. "Wouldn't your parents just get tired of having me around constantly?"

"You're going to be around them a lot more when we're older and…" She stopped, seeming to have caught herself, and looked away, a slight pink tinge in her cheeks.

Kousei felt his face heat up as well, and tried hastily to find something to say to dispel the situation. "I'm sure it'll be harder to… Under their scrutiny…"

That was perhaps not the best thing to say to dissipate the tension in the air.

Her face reddened, but she did not look away. "I know, but what choice to we have?"

He sighed, but his face broke into a smile. "Dewa, yoroshiku onegaiitashimasu~"

 _Well then, I am in your hands, my Lady._

* * *

 **See why I use Japanese? There's kind of a joke in this chapter you'll only understand if you understand the Japanese dialog. Also, if you're wondering what in the world "No~" is, it was my (ingenious? no? okay…) attempt to say** **う～ん** **in English.** **ううん** **(uun) is like** ** _no_** **, but it's very hard to explain. It has to have a specific intonation or it'll sound like a hesitant** ** _yeah_** **(** ** _yeah_** **is** **うん** **– "** **un"). Anyway, when you say** ** _no_** **like** **う～ん** **, it has a reassuring tone to it. The best way I found to render that in English was "No~". It's kinda like** ** _nah_** **, but… I don't know – softer? Sorry if me using Japanese like this annoys you, but at this point you should already know. If you don't like it, you shouldn't be reading my fics.**

 **Anyway, I look forward to seeing you all on Friday!**


	5. Friday

**ならばお前が書け。それが唯一その小説を完璧なままにしておく方法だ。**

 **Then you write it. That's the only way to keep that story perfect.**

 **- _Natsume Souseki_**

* * *

Final~

 _Two years after surgery_

He played the last note at the same time as her, and sat back, his shoulders relaxing with a sigh.

"That was good," Kaori said, lowering her violin.

He turned to her and smiled wearily. "Yeah."

"You know what – I'm satisfied with that."

He nodded. "Agreed."

"Good," her mother said from the doorway, clapping her hands together briskly, stepping in with two glasses of water. "Well, if you're done for the day, will you two _please_ come down and have dinner now?"

"We'll just have it here, thank you," said Kaori, accepting her glass of water gratefully.

Her mother smiled slightly. "Fine," she said, and turned to Kousei.

"Ah, thank you," he said, taking the water and taking a long draught.

"Kaori!" her father said loudly. "Kousei-kun! You guys are done practicing?"

Kaori nodded. "Hope this is enough…"

"Don't worry!" her father said with a laugh, walking to Kousei and slapping him on the back. The younger man found himself thankful he was sitting, or he would not have been able to withstand that hit. A baker's arms were strong, as he had seen. "There isn't a pair of musicians better than the two of in that competition! You have this thing in the bag!"

Kousei lowered his gaze, running his fingers gently over the piano keys. Tomorrow was the final of the nationals… They'd made it this far… Her father was probably right. Realistically, he _shouldn't_ be this nervous. There was probably not a pair of musicians in the world who could best the two of them…

Kaori set her glass on the table beside her, now empty but still chilled, and made to stand up.

"Oh, no," her mother said, waving her down quickly. "You don't need to get up. You either, Kousei-kun."

"Ahh," Kousei said awkwardly, halfway between sitting and standing.

"Yeah, we'll go bring your dinner upstairs for you," her father said.

"But… I wouldn't want to cause you any trouble…" he said, shooting his girlfriend a glance.

"It's no trouble," her father insisted. "Sit down! We'll bring it up!"

He looked to Kaori. She was sitting unconcernedly.

"Well, I – Thank you," he said in defeat.

"Don't worry about it," Kaori's mother said kindly, and she and her husband left the room.

Kousei sat back down, a sigh threatening to escape.

Silently, he drummed the edge of the piano with his fingers. So much depended on their performance tomorrow… If they won, the opportunities that would open up before them would be incredible. Kaori would get the chance to compete against violinists from all around the world in Italy. He _could not_ botch this, whatever happened.

"You're nervous," said Kaori softly, sitting down beside him, and, taking his hand, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I really want to win."

She hummed, her voice musical even without words.

"This is so important… As your accompanist, I just… I _can't_ let this go wrong, not when you've come so far…"

She laced their fingers together. "When _we've_ come so far. This is for _us_ , Kousei, don't forget it. We're a team. We're one, you and I."

"Yes, I know."

She looked at him, and he stared worriedly ahead. For a moment she hesitated. He really wanted all the best things in the world for her, really wanted her to be happier than anyone else in the world. For a moment she could not speak, her heart fluttering because the love she had for him could not be contained. She raised herself up from the bench an inch – for her was now taller than her – and kissed his cheek. He looked at her.

"Don't worry about anything," she said, closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder again. "You are everything to me. I'd lay the world at your feet if you asked me to."

* * *

 **My writing is way too sweet. Don't hate me for it – by know you should have figured out this fic is pretty happy. And sweet. Don't forget sweet. Sigh… I'm dead inside. It's only writing these happy, fluffy stories is what makes me feel like I'm alive. Helps me pretend I matter even a single bit in this world, even though I know I actually don't. I could die today and it wouldn't matter to anyone...**

 **...**

 **I'm kidding, don't worry. :P**

 **Yeah, as if anyone would worry…**

 **Again, joking. xD**

 **I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's chapter. I actually really like that one. It's quite different. Wow, this story is coming to an end, eh? It's been quite fun working on it, and I'm kinda sorry to see it go. But look forward to it!**

 **And, to the guest reviewer: Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. ^_^**


	6. Saturday

**もう書けない…俺はもう小説を書くことはできない…**

 **I can't write... I can no longer write a story...**

 **-** ** _Oda Sakunosuke_**

* * *

Stage~

 _Eight years after surgery_

He pulled at the collars of his suit jacket, then turned to her, in the wing offstage as they prepared to play. "How do I look?" he asked.

She set the violin, which she had been picking up, back down, and turned to him, her white dress hugging her figure like the calm surface of a lake. "You look wonderful, dear," she said, but hesitated. Walking over to him, she took his bowtie, and pulled at it, making some adjustments. "There," she said when she was done, taking a step back to inspect her handiwork.

"Thank you," he said, smiling. She paused, then stood on tip-toe to fix his hair.

"I swear, this mess never sits down," she muttered.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Shut up, it's endearing," she said. "And _stop touching it_."

"Oh, sorry," he said, just realizing that he was ruining her efforts, and promptly lowered his hand.

"Honestly…" she said fondly, and turned to pick her violin up. She paused, and looked back at him, appearing torn.

"You know," he said, voicing what he knew she was thinking as well. "I really want to kiss you right now, but we're up in a minute and I don't want to ruin your makeup."

"Then let's get this over with quickly," she said, but still walked up to him to give him a fleeting peck on the lips.

He laughed. "We're horrible musicians. We're talking about rushing our recital that people have traveled from all over the world to see so we can make out."

She grinned mischievously at him. "We could always do it on stage."

He rolled his eyes. "You've already destroyed every form of common musical decency anyway. Besides…" He quieted, looking off in the direction of the audience, where their three year old daughter – a miniature Kaori with straight blonde hair and eager eyes – was waiting to listen to their performance with her grandparents, and her "sensei", Nagi, along with Takeshi and Emi, who were together, and Tsubaki, who was single, and Watari, who was still fooling around as usual, and Seto-san and her daughter.

His wife walked up to him and rested a hand on his arm. "It's not like she _hasn't_ seen us before…"

He blushed, twenty-two but somehow still susceptible to his wife's teasing. "Come on, that was _one_ time!" he protested. The memory of their daughter, half-asleep, carrying a plushie and rubbing her eyes walking in on them in bed still made him panic.

She laughed. "Or maybe you just don't want to kiss me on stage because you don't want people to know you love me, huh? Maybe I'm just _meiwaku_ to you…" she said, her blue eyes twinkling.

 _Or maybe I'm just a burden to you…_

"Oh, come _on_!"

She laughed again, shaking her head. "Stupidest inside joke ever…" She looked up to meet his eyes. " _But you know what_?" she whispered.

And suddenly he found his head pounding, and his breath short. " _What…_?"

" _I love it_."

" _I…_ " He took a breath. " _I love it too_."

"Good." She poked his forehead. He blinked. "I know."

Rubbing his forehead despite the fact it didn't hurt, he looked in the direction of their daughter again. Through the wall, of course, they could not see her, but he could just imagine her holding her breath, and he could see in his mind how her blue eyes would light up when her parents walked onto the stage.

"Thank you for giving me a family…" he heard himself say.

Kaori walked up to him and took her place beside them, also looking toward the audience. "She's going to turn four soon."

"We still need to get tickets for her birthday," Kousei said. Tickets to Disneyland in California, where they would take her for a birthday vacation. They hadn't taken her to the United States since before she was old enough to remember it, so they figured Disneyland Park would be a good place to start her, give her her first impression of the country.

"Let's do that tonight."

"Yeah."

"Four…" said Kaori. "You know, I'm surprised she wasn't born earlier…" She looked at her husband with a sly twinkle in her eye.

Kousei blushed. "Well, yeah… We didn't use protection for like a year… She could have been eight by now."

Kaori giggled, and Kousei shook his head.

" _Please welcome Violinist Arima Kaori_ ," the announcer said from off to his right, " _accompanied by Arima Kousei_."

"Well, we're up," she said.

"So it seems."

"Let's do this," said Kaori. "Let's make our little girl proud!"

He nodded in determination.

* * *

 **In case it caused any confusion - the previous chapter's name was not _Final_ because it was the final chapter. Rather, _Final_ was the prompt for Friday since this is the Weekday Prompt Challenge. Also, I'm warning you – the next chapter is going to get sappy. It's going to get really, ****_really_** **sweet – yes, even more than the fic has been until now. If you're not into that, please do not read tomorrow's chapter. I don't want any angry reviews telling me my stuff is too happy. We need some happiness to balance out all the angst Arakawa-sensei thrust onto us.**


	7. Sunday

**好きです。**

 **I love you.**

 **-** ** _Miyazono Kaori_**

* * *

Song~

 _Four years after the surgery_

The night was quiet. The stars shone white in an endless see of black, their twinkle gentle, as if silent in respect. The world seemed peaceful tonight. It had been a boisterous affair, but now it seemed like even the insects in the air had left, leaving just the two of them in their small spot in the world. A deep-seated warmth had settled into his heart, and when she took his hand, he found that his heart grew more peaceful.

"So."

She broke the silence. Of course she did. Oh, how he loved her!

"…So," he said, somehow that one word carrying a powerful meaning tonight.

"We're married now," she said.

Despite the fact they'd never been apart for more than a couple hours at a time in four years, he felt a boyish giddiness overtake him, and his heart sped up, just that one bit.

"Yes," he said.

"I'm happy," his… his _wife_ said, resting her head on his shoulder.

He felt his face heat up. Despite the fact that he'd known she loved him for four years, and that they'd promised to be together forever from the moment he read that letter, it had never felt so _real_ as it did today. The fact that they really, _really_ , were married, that they were tied together for all eternity under an ancient contract, that they _officially_ belonged to each other now, that she was _his_ , the gold band on her finger declaring to the world that she loved him, and that he was hers… It was powerful… Too powerful to fully wrap his head around, so instead he waited, slowly letting it sink in, and as it did it stole his breath away every second.

"I am too," he said softly, putting an arm around her and drawing her closer.

"I was so nervous…" she admitted with a soft laugh.

He smiled as well. "I was shaking. Watari had to practically push me out the door. I almost couldn't stand."

His wife – his _wife_ , he kept reminding himself, feeling giddy as a boy with his first crush (which she _had_ been for him, he reasoned) every time, his heart doing flips. His wife giggled. "Yes, I couldn't even talk these last few weeks."

"Couldn't look you in the eye," he agreed.

"I pissed Tsubaki off so much."

"Yep, I pissed Watari off as well. And Seto-san. And Nagi-chan. And father…"

"I have never been so scared about anything in my life before."

He laughed softly. "Same."

They spoke in hushed tones, the night – their first night has husband and wife – feeling somehow too sweet, too _sacred_ , to defile.

"But it was fun."

He nodded. "It was. It totally was… Didn't expect Tsubaki to cry so much, though," he admitted after a pause.

Kaori laughed. "Sweet Tsubaki."

"She was crying more than your mom."

"Yep."

"Seto-san was crying too."

They sat just out of the doorway in the backyard, on a small step, in the silent, cool night, under the sky they would always share from now on.

"I did too," she admitted. "When I reached you, on the aisle. If the priest hadn't told you to kiss me, I'm sure everyone would have seen."

"I know. I saw you."

"Oh."

"Of course I saw you. You were all I could focus on tonight. It was like my heart was going to fall out. The urge to see you was… It was so strong, I… When I saw you finally walking down that aisle, I swear you looked like a golden goddess incarnate. I felt like crying too, to be honest… But Watari had already threatened me to hold my tears. Said I'd definitely get the urge to. Said I cry too much anyway."

She laughed softly.

"But it went perfectly. It was…" He smiled slightly, the memory sweet. "It was the best day of my life. Despite the fact there were so many people."

She nodded softly, looking down.

"You did so brilliantly," he said, drawing her closer, and kissed her temple. He knew how shy is wife was inside, despite the front she always put up. He could only imagine how nerve-wracking it must have been for her to appear before so many people with wedding nerves. "I'm so proud of you."

She blushed, and averted her gaze. "It was the best day of my life too," she said softly, nuzzling into him. "When I was walking down the aisle with dad and I saw you… It was the greatest moment of my life. We've faced the entire world together, and we will in the future as well, but in that moment… I – I had never been prouder of you in my life. I…" She turned to him, her voice slightly-higher pitched than usual, and her found her eyes wet with tears. "I love you, Kousei."

Suddenly, it became hard to draw breath, and he felt like there was a lump in his throat. He swallowed, and when he blinked he found his eyes burned. His vision blurred, and he found himself blinking away tears as well. "I love you too," he said, his voice hoarse.

"I was scared, Kousei," she said, and suddenly he knew she wasn't talking about the wedding anymore. "I was _so scared_ … I'd done all I could, lived my life to the fullest, and I'd even told you I loved you, in that letter… But I… I didn't want to die. I didn't want to die… I'd done all I could, but I wanted – _so_ much – to spend more time with you, to be with you all throughout your life…"

He clenched his jaw, and hot tears began to fall down his face, his breath becoming ragged. "Kaori…"

"I was scared… It scared me to think about what would happen… And sometimes I cried, when no one was looking… I didn't want to make anyone sad, so I hid it from everyone, but sometimes it would be too much… Sometimes I couldn't keep myself from crying…"

" _I love you so much_ ," he whispered. " _Oh, I love you_ so much _…_ "

"That surgery was _so scary_ … I was _so scared_ …"

She looked up at him, her face wet with tears but somehow radiating with a beauty that was otherworldly, and in that moment he found himself thinking that if there was someone who could ever be called a _goddess_ , it was this woman.

" _But then you came_ …" she whispered. " _You came, with your music, and somehow, almost beyond the threshold of death, I heard you… And I knew I couldn't stop… I knew I couldn't give up… I knew I had to keep fighting._ "

He cried, an ache cutting through his heart. Shutting his eyes tight against the tears, he embraced her, holding her so tight he was sure it was painful, but at this moment he could not bring himself to care. "I love you so much," he wept. "I have – I have no idea what I would do if I ever lost you… I can't live without you… If anything were to happen to you, I swear…" He took a breath through the tears. "I swear I'll follow you! There's nothing in this world if not you."

Her breath hitched, and her tears began anew. Closing her eyes she draw closer, and knowing what she wanted to do he dipped down, and slowly, among the salty taste of their tears, he kissed her, holding her close, secure. His first love, his confidante, his closest friend, his _wife_ , his companion in everything he did.

The world was huge, but he did not care about unraveling its mysteries. Her sickness wasn't _gone._ It probably would not come back, but technically it could at any time. And maybe it would. Maybe one day it would come back and take her from him. Maybe one day, the world would lose its color again, and become a monochrome scene, one last time, never to have any warmth again. Maybe one day, she would die, and leave him alone and cold in the vast world. And if that ever happened, he would die with her. Maybe one day all of this would come to an end, but for now, in their own small place in the world, with just the two of them, he was content.

* * *

 **Whew. So that was that. The longest fic I've ever written. It was an incredible journey. Thanks to all the people who read, followed, favorited, and reviewed. It's your support that keeps me going, keeps making me want to create more of these recycled, wish-fulfillment packs of concentrated glucose. And of course, special thanks to my man Beethoven, whose music got me through the process of writing this story. It's always a blast writing for you guys, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. Until then,** ** _yoroshiku_** **~ And, as always:**

 **読んでくれてありがとう！**


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